Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari appointed a new chief of army staff on Thursday after the previous top-ranking commander and 10 other officers died in a plane crash last week.

It was the third air disaster this year for the military, which is fighting a decade-long jihadist insurgency in the northeast, kidnap gangs in the northwest and separatist violence in the southeast.

"President Muhammadu Buhari has appointed Major General Farouk Yahaya as the new Chief of Army Staff," defence spokesman Onyema Nwachukwu said in a statement.

Yahaya, whose nomination needs confirmation from the National Assembly, was born in 1966.

In April 2020, he was named theatre commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, the military's campaign in the northeast, recently renamed Operation Hadin Kai.

His predecessor, Lieutenant General Ibrahim Attahiru, who died in the crash Friday had only been appointed in January.

The aircraft went down "due to inclement weather", the armed forces said, when trying to land at Kaduna's international airport.

A day earlier, news emerged that Boko Haram's leader Abubakar Shekau had been seriously wounded or possibly killed after clashes with ISWAP, a rival Islamic State-allied faction.

Neither ISWAP nor Boko Haram have reported Shekau dead, but analysts said his loss would be a huge blow to his faction and potentially allow ISWAP to consolidate territorial control in Nigeria's northeast.

Related Links
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

South Sudan to draft new constitution; Security Council to meet over Mali meeting
Juba (AFP) May 25, 2021
South Sudan began Tuesday to draft a final constitution in the aim of cementing a fragile peace almost a decade after it won independence. President Salva Kiir presided over a ceremony that launched the process, part of a peace deal reached with rival Riek Machar in 2018. The world's youngest country, South Sudan has been governed by provisional constitutions during the years of civil war that followed independence in July 2011. "This workshop is to develop a roadmap for the permanent consti ... read more